Double Dose of Pet Food Toxins

An annual survey of mycotoxin risks of grain ingredients in North America found 80% of samples tested contained two dangerous mycotoxins. Add to this risk, mycotoxins can increase the absorption of endotoxins – and vice versa.

Biomin.net – a company that provides products to support the animal feed industry – recently provided the following infographic:

Of concern to pet food consumers in North America, grains tested here were classified as “Extreme Risk”.

In this image provided by Biomin.net, their survey found the two most prevalent mycotoxins found in North America were deoxynivalenol (DON) and fumonisins (FUM).

Dr. Judy Morgan provides the following information on mycotoxin toxicity in pets:

Symptoms of mycotoxin toxicity may include elevated liver enzymes, vomiting, muscle tremors, seizures, weakness, increased heart rate, anorexia, increased thirst and urination, liver failure, hemorrhage, and death. When the mother animal eats food contaminated with mycotoxins, the toxins are passed through the milk to the offspring. Mycotoxins are considered class 1 carcinogens, which means they do cause cancer. Mycotoxins have a cumulative effect on the body; chronic ingestion leads to higher levels in tissue samples.

Dr. Karen Becker provides the following information on mycotoxins toxicity in pets:

Symptoms of Mycotoxin Poisoning in Pets

The severity and type of symptoms your dog or cat displays depends on the amount and type of mycotoxin ingested. Some of the more common symptoms associated with mycotoxicosis include:

Panting

Weakness

Hyperactivity

Loss of coordination

Vomiting

Increased heart rate

Lack of appetite

Increased body temperature

Dehydration

Seizures

Muscle tremors

Mycotoxin poisoning is a true medical emergency, and your pet will need immediate treatment and hospitalization. Your veterinarian must take early and aggressive action to remove the toxic substances from your pet’s body.

Most vets may not correlate these symptoms to mycotoxins in pet food, so make sure you voice your thoughts if you suspect your pet has been poisoned by her food.

Common Food Sources of Mycotoxins

Corn

Peanuts

Wheat (bread, cereal, pasta)

Cottonseed and cottonseed oil

Barley (cereal)

Rye

Sugar cane and sugar beets (which also feed fungi)

Sorghum (found in a variety of grain-based products)

The above foods can be found in many commercially available pet food formulas. I recommend you study the ingredients in the food you buy your pet, and avoid brands containing grains or corn in any form, including corn gluten meal, whole grain corn, corn flour, etc.

And then…to make the concern worse…the presence of mycotoxins in a pet food/animal feed could increase the absorption of another toxin into your pet’s bloodstream – endotoxins, and vice versa.

Two different types of toxins.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) defines mycotoxins as: “Mycotoxins are poisonous chemical compounds produced by certain fungi. There are many such compounds, but only a few of them are regularly found in food and animal feedstuffs such as grains and seeds. Nevertheless, those that do occur in food have great significance in the health of humans and livestock.”

Defined by Merriam-Webster, endotoxins are: “a toxic heat-stable lipopolysaccharide substance present in the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria that is released from the cell upon lysis.”

Mycotoxins are toxins produced by mold growth on food ingredients, endotoxins are toxins released when gram-negative bacteria such as Salmonella or E.coli are killed (such as cooking of pet food). And when both endotoxins and mycotoxins are found in an animal food…the synergy of the two toxins increases the risk of each.

From Biomin.net (this post mainly written of the risk to livestock):

Mycotoxins and Endotoxins can also have an impact on the intestinal barrier function and so increase the risk of endotoxin uptake into the bloodstream. Similarly, the negative effect of endotoxins on the rumen epithelium may increase the uptake of mycotoxins, increasing the risk to the animal of even hard-to-absorb mycotoxins such as fumonisins. Both mycotoxins and endotoxins can trigger inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects (through reducing response or directly affecting immune cells) and both toxin types can affect, and be exacerbated by, liver damage.

The concerning question is…

Part 1. Feed grade pet food meat ingredients, specifically meats sourced from animals that have died other than by slaughter (openly allowed by FDA and each State Department of Agriculture even though this is a direct violation of federal law) that are prone to extreme high levels of gram-negative bacteria which results in extreme levels of exdotoxins.

Added with Part 2…grains that testing proved are at “Extreme Risk” in North America.

Is this combination sickening and killing pets?

Unfortunately, because FDA does not acknowledge the risk of endotoxins to pets – it is unlikely that any regulatory authority will confirm this is the case. And just how “Most vets may not correlate these symptoms to mycotoxins in pet food” (from Dr. Karen Becker above), veterinarians may not consider endotoxins and the dangerous synergy of of both toxins in pet foods – furthering the unknown of how many pets this toxin combination sickens. However – with the known risk of both toxins, the known use of waste meats prone to high levels of endotoxins and with the known risk of mycotoxin contamination (80% of samples tested) in grain ingredients – we can safely assume many pets are suffering from this deadly toxin combination.

What can consumers do?

Listen to your pet. If your pet walks away from a meal – especially a new bag or can of food – listen to them. Discard or return the food. Your pet might be more aware the food contains endotoxins and/or mycotoxins than you.

Become a member of our pet food consumer Association. Association for Truth in Pet Food is a a stakeholder organization representing the voice of pet food consumers at AAFCO and with FDA. Your membership helps representatives attend meetings and voice consumer concerns with regulatory authorities. Click Here to learn more.

Yes, I have personally thought for years that most pets “grain allergies” are really mycotoxin/endotoxin allergies to the contaminated grain used in pet food rather than to the grain itself. We read first hand in your previous story about the pet food manufacturer how employees testified that even when they rejected contaminated grain, the trucking company would just bring it back over and over until it was accepted. We can assume that the grains used in pet food are the worst of the worst in terms of contamination. Now I wonder how many people with “gluten intolerance” are actually sensitive to mycotoxin/endotoxins present even in human grade grain products?

Is there some way you can dummy all this down for all of us that really don’t know or understand all these percentages and toxins and all this stuff. I think there’s more of us that don’t understand that stuff then those of us to do, so please help. Thanks.

Working in the veterinary field, we hospitalize and treat patients with liver and kidney failure regularly. Some young, some old. The cause of the pets’ condition is investigated sometimes…usually via ultrasound, primarily looking for tumors on the dysfunctional organs. Other times, the disease state is considered idiopathic, presumably genetic, or possibly exposure to a toxin. But never is food taken into consideration, unless of course the pet is fed something that is considered taboo by the clinic. A good majority of the cases of extreme sickness we see are religiously fed veterinary recommended diets….in those cases, food isn’t even an afterthought.

WILL SOMEONE PLEASE OFFER A SOLUTION …PLEASE, AT LEAST,”” NAME “”” SOME BRANDS OF FOOD THAT AVOIDS SOME OF THESE POTENTIAL TOXINS..! I ALL BAD NEWS….NO WAY OUT??
WILL SOMEONE PLEASE ANSWER….NAME SOME / ANY BRANDS (NOT RAW) THAT, AT LEAST,
COULD BE A STARTING POINT.? SOME OF US ARE GIVING UP. I FEEL GUILTY “FEEDING” MY CATS ???
AND, THIS GUILT IS BECOMING OVERWHELMING….!!!!!.
..

For homemade food, I do use a sweet potato carb (he has no issues). Steam (fresh or frozen) veggies; add bone broth to veggie water! Warms the meal, pets love it! Occasionally, a dollop of non-fat cottage cheese, Kifer, Yogurt (my pet okay with dairy). An egg for breakfast. Or baked chicken/turkey meat. A $20 organic package lasts a month! Pets LOVE, love real food, although some do need to adapt. When time is short, I add real (human edible) meat on top of a quality kibble (yes, the world isn’t perfect). For more ideas, see Susan’s 2018 List (and yes there are Cat Foods on it). The real risk (although pets survive) is when people feed the exact same dry PF every single day for years. Doing so, is hard on them as they age. And lessens their ability to digest a variety of real foods!

THANKS FOR YOUR RESPONSE. I AM VEGAN, AND YOUR SUGGESTIONS ARE WAY TOO COMPLICATED. ALSO, I DON’T HAVE THE “EQUIPMENT..EX. GRINDERS, ETC OR THE TIME AND EXPERTISE TO PREPARE THESE MEALS. I NEED SOMETHING ALREADY
PREPARED. I NOW BELIEVE THIS IS HOPELESS. I FFED MY CAT HILLS PRESCRIPTION DIET C/D PER MY VET.. NOW, I SEE THAT IT IS ONE OF THE “WORST”…!!! REALLY DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO ANYMORE….I PAY $2 / CAN AND I AM KILLING MY CAT…!!!!!!!
DAMN THESE VETS TO HELL….DAMN THEM ALL…!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HAVE TRIED ORGANIC
CANNED PET FOOD, ORGANIC WHOLE CHICKENS FROM WHOLE FOODS, SARDINES,,,,,
ETC. THEY DON’T LIKE IT.; DON’T KNOW WHAT I AM GOING TO DO WITH THE CATS….
I AM SLOWLY KILLING THEM WITH THIS VET RECOMMENDED POISON FOOD……!!

ALSO, FORGOT TO MENTION CAT HAD “INTERMITTENT” STRUVITE CRYSTALS, AND THAT IS HOW THIS HILLS SCRIPT. C/D DEBACLE STARTED., WILL SOMEONE
“PLEASE…” RECOMMEND A SUBSTITUTE, PREPARED FOOD THAT IS ALREADY
OUT THERE THAT DOES THE SAME THING….PLEASE.!! THERE MUST BE SOMETHING THAT I DON’T KNOW ABOUT..
ALSO, WHO CAN AFFORD THESE VET BILLS TO PAY FOR THE HARM THEY ARE INFLICTING BY RECOMMENDING THESE POISON FOODS TO BEGIN WITH..
THANKS EVERYONE, SO MUCH FOR CARING ENOUGH TO
RESPOND. THERE MUST BE A PREPARED FOOD THAT COMPENSATES…
LOWER PHOS., ETC. PLEASE…….

FROM MM….WANTED TO SHARE WITH EVERYONE:
WILL BE TRYING DAVE’S https://davespetfood.com/catalog/for-cats/can-for-cats/restricted-diet/ RESTRICTED MAGNESIUM/PHOS. CANNED AS A PARTIAL REPLACEMENT FOR CANNED FELINE C/D.(COMPANY SAID IT WAS “BASED/MODELED OFF C/D)
SO FAR, COMPANY SEEMS TRANSPARENT ON PHONE, AS WELL AS WEBSITE. SOME PEOPLE I KNOW PERSONALLY RECOMMEND IT.
i CALLED DAVE’S, SPOKE WITH REP. NAMED EDEN WHO WAS HAPPY TO SEND OUT ALL THE SAMPLES I REQUESTED RELATIVE TO MY NEEDS….REALLY NICE ABOUT IT. SHE WAS OPEN ABOUT CANNERIES, LOCATIONS, BREAKDOWNS BOTH WET AND DRY, ETC.(ON THE WEBSITE FOR EVERYONE TO SEE..!)
I AM HOPEFUL . ALSO, THE 95% DIETS ARE “LOW CARBOHYDRATE, PROTEIN RICH”.
I HOPE THAT EVERYONE LOOKS AT THIS WEBSITE.

I’ll try one more time. Any food is only as good as it’s sourcing. You’ve dropped in here, to the TAPF, which has a DECADE of information behind what you’re just seeing right now, and DEMANDING a solution, because you happen to be at your wit’s end.

First of all, who is Dave and what are his personal credentials? That he can read other people’s websites, who’ve already borrowed from other people’s websites (including TAPF) does not impress me. That he has hired a professional who is a skilled pet nutritionist (with experience including studies to back up his formulas) and ideally, a holistic background … might. Fancy websites and personal pleasantries over the phone, do not substitute for personalized treatment of your individual (and I assume they are) cats’ issues.

If you have been feeding (primarily) a DRY diet long term to a cat with urinary issues, you’re already in trouble. Many cats simply do not drink enough water. And the PH level has to be set correctly. For other folks reading these comments,THIS VET RECOMMENDED POISON FOOD is not a true statement and is very unfair to malign a group of researchers who have the analytics behind their work. Unfortunately people expect a “controlled diet” prescribed by a Vet to eliminate a condition. And to be a one-stop solution, so no more thinking is required. People drink “Glucerna” as a replacement meal (which is better than a Happy Meal), but it does not eliminate diabetes! For your poor cats’ sake, please consult a holistic Vet, who can help you handle fresh food meal ideas. And can TEST your cats to monitor improvement.

The most simple suggestion that I did include, was to consult Susan’s 2018 List with already prepared Cat pet food options, on it. AND … you’re welcome.

Thank you Pet Owner. I was not demanding anything, just looking for help, suggestions, etc…
and yes, I am passionate but who isn’t when it comes to this subject. Unfortunately, I
am not in a position to spend money on holistic vet “consultations” And, using the
phrase “poison food” reflects my feelings about the lies, deceit and deception of the
pet food industry and certainly, in some cases, leading to the deaths of innocent animals
as you well know. So, no…I won’t be polite about it. Also, my urinary issues cat eats
canned c/d, which is why I started commenting in the first place. Thank you.

Along with every other contamination and adulteration of the U.S. food supply, what this is doing to humans is the equivalent of the Chinese idiom, “Death by a Thousand Cuts” which was a slow method of torture and execution.

Speaking of Big Pharma, Goldman Sachs states that curing patients is not a good business model for gene therapies because it cuts into profits:

From the article: “Turning food in to toxic waste before consumption is also good, because people will get sick from ridiculous amounts of high fructose and other poisons. Nothing like a pandemic of diabetes to keep the cashflow going, is there? I’m sure anyone would be prepared to lose a limb to keep the Big Pharma guys in luxury.”